Member

Well it has been 11 months of the WWE network and it is probably safe to say WWE has more than a few problems. I more or less stopped wathcing Wrestling since the late 90's and grew up with Hogan Macho, Ultimate Warrior being on top and enjoyed the New Generation in the 90's. As much as people laugh at the New Generation era these days online I would argue its actually better than RAW these days as Undertaker, Shawn, Bret, Owen, Razor Ramon and Diesel were around.

So what are the main problems? The top 5 in no particular order.

5. Belts do not mean anything

Back when I started watching the belts were treated as a big deal mostly because Hogan either had it or was chasing it. New Japan is also old fashioned with this along with NXT with lengthy title reigns. Compare this with the hot potato womens title last year on RAW or the 5 title changes in 5 months at the start of this year. (AJ, Cena, Bray, Orton, Jinder). If the performers/WWE do not care about the belts why should you as the viewer?

4. Alignments out of whack
This is noticeable with Roman Reigns (who should be a heel) . In the good old days the crowd more or less determined a heel/face alignment. Razor Ramon and Stone Cold were heels that were getting babyface pops so they turned them babyface. The characters growth was more organic, these days they ignore the audience or even bury performers who get themselves over. If it happens give them a push. Heels often get more reacitons than the faces (which we don;t care about). See Braun Strowman/ KO+ Jericho last year.

3. To much/overexposure
There is around 5 hours of wrestling to digest each week, in the good old days or even into the Monday Night ars you only had 1 or 2 hours to keep track of. In the modern era following NXT is comparatively easy. Old attitude era RAW without the ads is around 1 hour 20 mins. 3 hours of RAW is to much especially weekly. I can just about handle a 3 hour movie as long as it is good (Dance with Wolves). with 5 hours you are seeing to much of the wrestlers and you have a weak midcard. For example Hogan in 10 years wrestled around 60 times on free TV, Cena did that in 1 year. Probably doesn't help some things they are pushing have very thin rosters (splitting the women+tag teams, 205 active roster of around 13 wrestlers).

2. Lack of Star Power
This is a combination of factors such as 50/50 bookings, scripted promos, pushing the wrong wrestlers and to much exposure. Brock Lesnar is probably the biggest star they have and you hardly see him. There is a lesson in that (see Hogan in the 80's). The champion can be on TV cutting promos but ideally should only be seen in the ring once every month or 2. The classic heroes of old had win rates over 70% and even Rock/Austin were around 60%. Basically Brock should be on TV more,but they probably have his in ring appearances about right. With 50/50 booking no one gets over and someone like AJ Syles has lost more than he has won this year. Employ some jobbers, get Elseworth into the ring (to lose) etc.

1. Shit Booking
This is the biggest problem on RAW and SD to a lesser extent. Ratings are in the shitter recently and this is the big offender. You have to have the belts on wrestlers people care about (love or hate) along with decent storylines for the mid card. For example Bayley should have beaten Charlotte at Wrestlemania, look at the Bray/Orton clusterfuck. They have no new stars as they over relied on Cena/Undertaker/HHH etc for to many years or at least since 2011. There have been a few glimmers of hope (NXT, UK title special, Cruiserweight Classic). Its not a PG vs PG 14 thing either as other companies and WWE/F and WCW made some good wrestling under the PG label.

Member

Well it has been 11 months of the WWE network and it is probably safe to say WWE has more than a few problems. I more or less stopped wathcing Wrestling since the late 90's and grew up with Hogan Macho, Ultimate Warrior being on top and enjoyed the New Generation in the 90's. As much as people laugh at the New Generation era these days online I would argue its actually better than RAW these days as Undertaker, Shawn, Bret, Owen, Razor Ramon and Diesel were around.

So what are the main problems? The top 5 in no particular order.

5. Belts do not mean anything

Back when I started watching the belts were treated as a big deal mostly because Hogan either had it or was chasing it. New Japan is also old fashioned with this along with NXT with lengthy title reigns. Compare this with the hot potato womens title last year on RAW or the 5 title changes in 5 months at the start of this year. (AJ, Cena, Bray, Orton, Jinder). If the performers/WWE do not care about the belts why should you as the viewer?

4. Alignments out of whack
This is noticeable with Roman Reigns (who should be a heel) . In the good old days the crowd more or less determined a heel/face alignment. Razor Ramon and Stone Cold were heels that were getting babyface pops so they turned them babyface. The characters growth was more organic, these days they ignore the audience or even bury performers who get themselves over. If it happens give them a push. Heels often get more reacitons than the faces (which we don;t care about). See Braun Strowman/ KO+ Jericho last year.

3. To much/overexposure
There is around 5 hours of wrestling to digest each week, in the good old days or even into the Monday Night ars you only had 1 or 2 hours to keep track of. In the modern era following NXT is comparatively easy. Old attitude era RAW without the ads is around 1 hour 20 mins. 3 hours of RAW is to much especially weekly. I can just about handle a 3 hour movie as long as it is good (Dance with Wolves). with 5 hours you are seeing to much of the wrestlers and you have a weak midcard. For example Hogan in 10 years wrestled around 60 times on free TV, Cena did that in 1 year. Probably doesn't help some things they are pushing have very thin rosters (splitting the women+tag teams, 205 active roster of around 13 wrestlers).

2. Lack of Star Power
This is a combination of factors such as 50/50 bookings, scripted promos, pushing the wrong wrestlers and to much exposure. Brock Lesnar is probably the biggest star they have and you hardly see him. There is a lesson in that (see Hogan in the 80's). The champion can be on TV cutting promos but ideally should only be seen in the ring once every month or 2. The classic heroes of old had win rates over 70% and even Rock/Austin were around 60%. Basically Brock should be on TV more,but they probably have his in ring appearances about right. With 50/50 booking no one gets over and someone like AJ Syles has lost more than he has won this year. Employ some jobbers, get Elseworth into the ring (to lose) etc.

1. Shit Booking
This is the biggest problem on RAW and SD to a lesser extent. Ratings are in the shitter recently and this is the big offender. You have to have the belts on wrestlers people care about (love or hate) along with decent storylines for the mid card. For example Bayley should have beaten Charlotte at Wrestlemania, look at the Bray/Orton clusterfuck. They have no new stars as they over relied on Cena/Undertaker/HHH etc for to many years or at least since 2011. There have been a few glimmers of hope (NXT, UK title special, Cruiserweight Classic). Its not a PG vs PG 14 thing either as other companies and WWE/F and WCW made some good wrestling under the PG label.

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I can Agree with all that has been said.
I loved watching The Rock, Batista, the Old HHH, Eddie G, Kane, etc.. That Generation/ Era. I liked ECW. Now a days, yeah.. Its gotten boreing. I hvnt seen any shows this year. Im still a fan and every now n then I want to try an catch a show or two, But then Im like... "Eh, Is it really worth it for me to see"?

Member

Vince doesn't care about stories or making most things meaningful. He doesn't have to. He's concerned with quarterly revenue so he only cares about rumble, mania, summerslam and survivor series. That's why you see such a pick up of everything around those times. He draws more money around those times and meets his quota and then he doesn't care too much otherwise.

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